Australia refuses to send warship to Red Sea

CANBERRA, Dec. 21 (YPA) – Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles has said his country’s strategic focus will remain in the Indo-Pacific region.

“We will not send a ship or plane to the Middle East, but we will send six additional individuals to contribute to the naval force led by the United States of America in the Red Sea,” Marles added, according to what the Turkish Anatolia news agency reported on Thursday.

On Monday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the formation of a multinational force led by Washington called the “Prosperity Guardians” operation to secure maritime navigation, in the Red Sea.

Austin said it is “a new security initiative and a multinational mission, established under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and its Joint Task Force 153 command, which focuses on securing the Red Sea.”

According to the announced tasks of the operation, it would “confront security challenges, ensure freedom of navigation, and prevent the targeting of ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait,” and the scope of work of the forces participating in the operation will be the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

YPA